A Natural Gift: Dawn's Story
by Akela Victoire
Summary: Dawn's always known she had a special gift with nature, but what happens when the Fly or Fall Domestic team shows up, proving to her that her gift is so much more than she ever thought it was? (Based off the Winx Club fic Fly or Fall by LoveLoveLovix.)


This a part of a fic trade with **_LoveLoveLovix_**. We're actually writing fanfictions of each other's fanfictions. I'm writing for her **_Fly or Fall_** and she will be writing for my **_Gems of Arcelia_**. If you haven't checked out either fic, I suggest you do so! FOF is in my favourites list!

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I was always thought to be weird.

Weirdo, loony, crackpot… I've heard all those names before. I heard them at school, I heard them within my community and I've even heard them during my short time as a competitor in Total Drama: Revenge of the Island.

I'm used to it though. The names used to bother me at first, but I try not to let them get to me anymore.

I'm sitting in my room at Playa De Losers early in the morning sketching pictures of the radioactive animals on the toxic waste dump also known as Camp Wawanakwa. If there ever was a place for Captain Planet to be…

These animals are still rather cute in that ugly cute sort of way. It's not their fault that they became so mutated. It's Chris' fault! If there's one human who could possibly make me lose my normally calm, cool and dreamy demeanour, it would be him. Well, him and Scott anyway. I can't believe I actually had a mild crush on _Scott_ of all people.

Putting the sketchpad away, I turned to one of my favourite books that I had brought with me.

It was a book of fairy tales. I loved them as a little girl and even though I'm sixteen now, I still love them.

Speaking of fairies, we all know they exist now. Fairies have been popping up all over the world. Girls around my age from my own country of Canada to even some countries I'd never heard of or paid much attention to before were suddenly developing magical fairy powers. A group of fairies claiming to be from other planets came to Earth and unlocked the ancient Queendom of Tir Nan Og here on Earth, freeing fairies who had apparently been imprisoned there.

It sounds like the perfect fantasy tale, like something that belongs in my fairy tale book…

I smiled at the thought as I held the book close and began to read.

I wonder what it would be like to be a fairy myself. Flying high in the sky, with beautiful wings, able to cast spells with the snap of a finger…

If I could do that, surely I'd be able to help the environment! I could expand my garden at home even more!

Of course, I was brought out of my daydreams by the sound of Chris' awful voice coming over the intercoms placed throughout the resort.

I made my way to the dock as per his instructions and boarded the boat to return to the pollution-filled island for the finale of Total Drama Revenge of the Island.

Cameron versus Lightning. Who knew?

I really hoped Cameron would win…

As it turned out, after one rather convoluted finale, he _did_ win.

"So, how does it feel to be the winner of this contest, Cameron?" I asked him, once we had returned to Playa Des Losers.

"I never expected that I'd win. It all feels so surreal…" He said, sounding in awe.

I giggled. He looks so cute when he's in disbelief…

"What will you do with the money?" I asked.

He paused to think.

"I want to give some to charity of course, and I'll probably save the rest for college too. What about you, Dawn? What would you have done if you were the winner instead of me?"

"I would love to start a plant nursery or a big botanical garden. Ever since I was young, I always had a way with plants. Normal kids would spend their allowance on ice-cream. Me? I was buying all sorts of planting supplies and the dirt that covered me wasn't because of my rolling around in it…" I smiled.

"That sounds lovely. Do you still have a garden?"

I nodded.

"What's it like now?" He asked me.

"I have pictures in my room. Would you like to see them?"

"Sure…" He smiled.

He really is starting to come out of his shell…

Holding his hand, I led the way to my room, past all the noisy former contestants celebrating the fact that the season was _finally_ over.

I left the door open so that certain… _unpleasant_ people (like Scott for example) wouldn't get the wrong idea and retrieved my photo album, which was sandwiched between my fairytale book and the sketchpad, throwing them onto the bed behind me.

"Wow. These sketches are so… lifelike! They look like something you'd see on National Geographic or maybe in a Nature Quest magazine!"

"If you think that's lifelike, wait until you see these!" I laughed, handing him the photo album.

He remained silent as he looked through the photographs for several minutes.

"I've never seen plants like this! How do you get them so tall? So healthy? So… vibrant?"

"Well… A little fertilizer and a whole lot of love!" I smiled.

"And a special gift. I've seriously never seen plants so vibrant. Perhaps that could do with the fact that I've been a bubble boy my whole life before coming here…"

"Special… gift?" I paused at those words.

Ever since those Earth fairies were freed several months ago, girls all over the world have been manifesting fairy powers. Some said they hadn't actually transformed yet, but their magic had manifested in things they were good at. Mechanics, art…

Nature?

I glanced down at my hands.

A little while after the fairies had been revealed, my own special gift started to show up. Plants began speaking to me and me to them. Sometimes I found myself in places and I didn't even know how I got there, (I _hope_ that wasn't some form of adolescent Alzheimer's…), levitation, my uncanny knack for knowing things about people that I shouldn't…

I blinked. I couldn't be… _could I?_

"Dawn? Dawn? Are you okay?" Cameron waved his hand in front of my face. _"Hello…?"_

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just daydreaming again…"

"About what?" He asked me.

"Well, when you said "special gift", it reminded me of the Magical Renaissance and those fairies who revealed themselves in the United States…"

"You think you might be a fairy yourself?" He asked cautiously.

"I'm a _something,_ I know that for sure! I mean, I've been literally been able to hold a conversation with the flora and fauna on that toxic dump of an island, as well as my garden back home. The plants told me exactly what they needed to flourish. Why didn't I think of this before?" I stood up.

"So when I said "special gift", it clicked in your mind?"

"Exactly! But how do I find out who… _what_ I am?" I wondered aloud.

"Well, there's still a little time left this summer. Perhaps you could get your parents to take you to Gardenia and check…" Cameron suggested.

"That's a great idea!" I jumped up and hugged him, drawing away quickly and blushing when I realized what I was doing.

"Um… We should probably get going…" Cameron stuttered.

We walked in silence to the common area where there was to be a party held supposedly in Cameron's honour.

"Hey look! It's the man of the hour!" Chris smiled in his sadistic glee.

"And the weirdo…" Chris trailed off as he saw me coming behind him.

I rolled my eyes.

"We're about to start shooting the live post-season party! Go stand off-camera over there and the weirdo can go sit with everyone else…"

I took a seat at a table with Zoey, Mike and Jo, giving them a brief smile as I turned to face Chris on stage.

As he rambled on, basically recapping the season, I started daydreaming again.

My gift… I really hope that this is the real thing and not just setting myself up for disappointment. Imagine the looks on my parents' faces if I could tell them that I was a fairy! _Me,_ their only daughter, a fairy? And possibly a nature connected one at that?

My parents made their lives around the environment. My mother is an Environmental Science Professor at University of Ottawa and my dad is a Marine Biologist who occasionally gives lectures at the same University.

Not particularly what you'd expect from the weirdo, hippie moonchild, huh? Let's just describe my childhood as an academic, yet environmental friendly one…

I snapped out of my daydreaming as Cameron finally made his appearance on stage.

Then, I heard it.

A plant was speaking to me again.

I turned around and looked at the potted palm tree behind me. It, as well as the plants outside were all trying to tell me something.

Huh… What was that? Danger? Where?

I stood up and snuck out of the hall and outside to the pool deck to the plants around it.

"Danger? What kind of danger?" I asked them aloud.

"I believe that would be _us,_ fairy."

I whipped around to see four men, slightly older than myself and all dressed in dark clothing smirking at me.

Something clicked in my mind again that day.

"Fairy? _Me?_ Really?"

"Dawn, DUCK!"

I dropped to the ground as I saw four beams of light hit the men, sending them careening across the pool deck.

I could barely hear the other former contestants; Chris and Chef rush out as I took in the sight of Avalon MacAdams, Kaylee Scott, Roxy Klaus and Lysis Ashman flying towards me. Earth fairies.

The same group I heard was going around the United States and Canada looking for new fairies.

Looking for me.

"You okay?" Roxy helped me up.

"Yes, I think so…" My voice was as light and dreamy as ever, even though I was now elated, yet terrified out of my wits at having my suspicions about my fairyhood all but confirmed.

"You're not going anywhere with her!" Avalon stood in front of us in a protective, yet fighting stance.

Out the corner of my eye, I could see that most of the former contestants as well as Chris and Chef had run back inside screaming.

The fewer brave ones ducked behind objects scattered around the poolside.

"Oh? What makes you think that?" One of the Apprentices, who I think was Trudric, fired a blast in my direction and I threw my hands in front of myself to brace for the impact.

It never came.

When I opened my eyes, a bright green shield surrounded me, Roxy and Avalon.

"Whoa. I really just did that?" I looked at my hands in awe.

"Yep. You just did." Avalon answered.

The shield disappeared when another blast came hurtling towards us, sending us scattering.

_Dawn, you need to let us help you!_

Huh, what?

The plants around me spoke.

_Let us help you! You need to transform, just like the other fairies!_

But how?

_Just concentrate! Feel the magic flowing through you that connects you to us!_ They instructed me.

I looked around, seeing the other fairies fighting to protect me from these bad men.

I glanced around and saw Cameron, hiding behind a large bench.

As I locked eyes with him, he smiled at me encouragingly.

He was terrified, yet still encouraging me.

"_I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!"_ I chanted to myself.

I closed my eyes as a bright, green light surrounded me.

My outfit turned into a dark green gypsy top that showed off my stomach, a knee-length flared skirt of the same colour as my top and straw coloured, low-heeled strappy sandals formed around my feet and white gloved formed around my arms, up to my elbows.. My light blonde hair was pulled into two French braided ponytails with white flowers going down the sides. I felt a slight tugging sensation in my back as pale, translucent maple-leaf shaped wings (how patriotic…) with a mint green tinge formed there.

"I've been through enough horrible things this past summer with this stupid show and I don't need you baddies adding to it!" I declared.

"Plants, come forward and help me!" I focused on all the greenery near the poolside.

Vines and branches extended themselves towards me and with a smirk that people would not expect to see on my face, I directed the plants to grab the Apprentices, making sure that Trudric was wrapped in an especially thorny vine.

"One, two, three… SWING!" As I counted, I clasped my hands together and when I swung, the Apprentices were thrown far out of my line of sight.

As soon as they were gone, I sunk to my knees exhausted.

I could hear the other fairies rushing to my side, but Cameron got to me first.

"Are you okay, Dawn?" He asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, if not a little tired and scratched up. I'm sorry I stole your limelight, Cameron…" I smiled slightly as I felt my fairy form disappear.

"No problem. I don't really like the limelight much anyway. You can keep it!" Cameron smiled back.

"Well, I know I always wanted to meet some of the Total Drama cast in person, but this isn't exactly how I pictured it happening…" Kaylee spoke, reminding us of her and the other fairies' presence.

"And this isn't how I pictured finding out about my powers either, so I guess we're even…" I chuckled.

I was a fairy. I had an explanation for my strange abilities. My dream came true.

Never mind it was broadcasted live on TV…


End file.
